Research Shows Dogs Could Become Powerful Weapon Against Malaria

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – New research shows a dog’s sense of smell could become a powerful weapon in the battle against malaria. Dogs at Penn Vet in Philadelphia have been doing research on smelling cancer.

Now, British scientists say sniffer dogs there have been trained to detect the deadly disease malaria.

Two-year-old Freya is on the hunt and keeps sniffing until she smells her target.

The springer spaniel is detecting malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that infects more than 200 million people around the world every year.

“What we found was that dogs are able to detect a difference in the socks that have been worn by children who are infected with the malaria parasite and children who are malaria-free,” said Dr. Claire Guest.

British researchers collected socks from Gambia, in West Africa, some worn by children carrying the malaria parasite.